Rains Today as I was driving home from work

As I was drove home from work today evening I experienced how a waft of rain-scented cool breeze on the face and wet, shiny road reflecting the lights from vehicles, can enhance the spirits.

The weather-people have predicted that during the coming weekend it will snow at sea level in San Francisco Bay area. In preparation for that event, nature had commenced the hostilities with extremely cloudy skies and very annoying incessant rains.

Getting out of my office building and running to the car parked in the lot, got me drenched a bit. I don't mind that. But it riles me to no end when I open my car trunk and a stream of water, hiding somewhere on the car roles into the trunk. This is very annoying especially since there are important documents lying around in the trunk. The person who discovers a way to stop this from happening will make a lot of money.

But the worst is actually getting my soaking wet shoes onto the carpet in the car. I feel sick knowing that the carpet my foot is on, has actually soaked in, a few ounces of  puddle.

But I get over it as I drive out of the lot. As I enter 237 highway it was nice to see the wet roads which reflected a string of red tail lights of cars in front of me. I took some pictures from inside the car.

As I rolled down the windows to take some more photos, the NPR radio program 'All Things Considered'  starts broadcasting a live commentary on the revolution going on in Libya. A local business man was giving a bullet by bullet description of the pitched battles between the rebels and Gaddafi's henchmen in Benghazi. It was so exciting to hear it, I rolled down the windows and listened.

It was exciting to hear live the struggle of Libyans, that too within the safety of my car. I turned on the heater for added comfort. I took some pictures of the rain outside my car which you can see here.

Here is a link to that radio segment. Please give it a listen get a first hand account  Click Here

In the morning when I was driving to work I was fully impressed by the three women panel on KQED's Forum. All three women were from the middle east and were highly educated, accomplished, very knowledgeable and extremely articulate. They presented a good analysis of womens' issues in those societies and peeled apart a lot of mischaracterization and over simplification which is presented to us by the media.   You can listen to it here.

Review: No One Killed Jessica (Hindi - 2011)

Title: No One Killed Jessica (Hindi - 2011)
Starring: Vidya Balan. Rani Mukherjee

Directed by: Raj Kumar Gupta

Music: Amit Trivedi

Score: 7.5 out of 10

Verdict: A very gritty portrayal of a commoner’s quest for justice after the tragic murder of a young woman. Good acting and tight narration makes it a very satisfying movie experience.

Not withstanding the culture shock I experienced when I watched the attitudinal shifts of the young and hip Indians as seen in this film, I must say I liked the movie ‘No body Killed Jessica’. It is bold in its pursuit of realistically representing a real life incident. In this case it is a crime that goes unpunished and a victim’s family who is denied justice. All this happens because powerful people in India have the muscle to twist the law enforcement agencies to do their bidding. They have the means to subvert the judicial system for self preservation against the interests of innocent hardworking law-abiding citizens.

The movie sets this mood with a bang in the opening sequence with a solidly delivered song ‘di di di dilli dilli’. It has strong background music and gritty lyrics and is sung effectively by Tochi Raina, Shriram Iyer, Aditi Singh Sharma. It is very effective in juxtaposing the symbols of power and the struggles of the daily life of common citizens.

The story starts with a young Sabrina who runs a travel agency, being woken up to the shocking news that her sister Jessica has been shot. We see the flash back where there is wild revelry in a posh club where Jessica a ravishing young girl is manning the bar and serving liquor to a crowd of young men and women who are consumed in wild dance and revelry. The club is owned by Jessica’s parents. It puts to shame any country club in the decadent West especially with the knowledge that dusty poverty stricken life lies just around the corner in the case of the Indian club.

It is in this backdrop that Jessica gets murdered. What follows is the police investigation, the political machinations by the involved parties, the court trial and the outcome. Jessica’s sister Sabrina doggedly pursues to seek justice for her dead sister. On the way a gutsy TV reporter Meera also gets involved in the case.

What stands out is the bold and understated performance by Vidya Balan. She has taken on a role which is not glamorous but has given it a great stature with her natural and unpretentious acting. The director Raj Kumar Gupta has ensured that the movie does justice to the serious nature of the theme he has chosen while giving proper attention to cinematic effects.

Culture Shock
Now coming to the culture shock I was taken aback watching Meera Gaity played by Rani Mukerjee. Meera is an audacious TV news reporter and anchor who is daring and fearless. She is ruthless in how she pursues her journalistic goals. That is great to see an attitude of grabbing life by its horns. But what I was not prepared for was the free flow of foul language from her which seemed to cross over to arrogance and crassness. I am pretty sure I would have had the same reaction even if it was coming from a man. Rani Mukherjee plays the role well and gets to drop choice obscenities which would draw applause from Chicago mobsters.

I am all for portraying life and characters in raw, realistic terms. I do understand that there are men and women like Meera in India but showing it in a film as if it is normal part of everyday life is a turning point. Another suspicion I have is that ‘Bollywood’ is accentuating aspects of life which can create sensationalism to benefit the film.

My greatest suspicion is that I am just out of touch with Indian films. But I would be really shocked if it turns out that I am out of touch with India and how Indians in India see themselves.

Here is a trailer of the movie.

Review of the movie RED;Isn't there something else I should be doing?

The short review of the movie is at the bottom. This is a preface.

Now a days I feel guilty after watching movies. Actually I feel guilty even while watching them. Here is the source of my guilt. Every movie I watched recently was an opportunity lost in my attempts at writing an article. 

It seems there is absolutely no time to do what I want to do. The running theme of life at the moment seems to be 'isn't there something else I am supposed to be doing?".  Life is busy at all times. In the morning it is time to get ready to go to work. There is also the job of assisting in getting the kids ready to go to school. In the evening there is kids' homework and other daily domestic responsibilities. Weekends do not come alone.  They bring with them kids' dance and music classes and a basketful of laundry.

So weekends and weeknights are both busy times and I can't find time for even watching movies. Writing about the movies I watched is a far cry and time is passing by.

There used to be times when I would look with pity at people who skipped watching late night TV shows Leno and Letterman because it is too late in the night. Hello? Eleven Thirty is too late in the night ? Come on. My day would not be complete without enjoying Leno's monologue or Letterman's Top 10 - often flipping between the two shows trying to catch both as much as possible. These two shows were like desert for my brain that had been fed with the daily dose of boredom. I would even stay up beyond Leno and watch Charlie Rose. Those were the days when I was working on my MBA and I would enjoy watching the occasional 'CEO Exchange' .  These were beyond 12.30 in the night. I would watch them anyway. I wanted to enjoy my day beyond its standard ration of twenty four hours.

Okay. After that digression, my mind is now free to address the original problem I brought up, which is the guilt I experience during and after watching movies.  Having subscribed to Netflix, there is a treasure trove of movies to watch and learn the fine art of  appreciating good movies from all over the world. Isn't it understandable that I would feel guilty for being a passive spectator instead of  learning..ahem.. the art of movie making, acting, music, and photography. OK, that is a bit too many droppings of buzzwords. It might be more believable if I wanted to "learn the fine art of talking about movies". 

There is truth to the saying "There never is time. You need to make time". With some determination I have decided to write about one of my latest movie experiences. One of the obstacles is that we become overwhelmed by the thought of writing an article that is substantial and meaningful. Instead,  to make it less daunting I have decided to write a short review of this movie - just about 10 lines. So there.

Title: Red (2010)

Score: 7 out of 10

Synopsis: Retired CIA operatives seek excitement for old times sake. Good silly action. Ensemble cast. Fun to watch the old boys and girls take part in action.

Starring: Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, Mary-Louise Parker, Helen Mirren, Donald Sutherland,  John Malkovich, Richard Dreyfus, Keith Urban

The star cast itself is a great attraction. I like all the actors including Bruce Willis. This is a super cool movie where a bunch of retired CIA operatives get back into action. Bruce Willis can kick rear even though he keeps being called Grandpa in the movie. It is a fun romp with over-the-top situations and fire fight sequences. Some scenes are so absurd they remind me of  the arrow fights in old Kannada movies where 'sarpastra' (snake arrow) from the left and garudaastra (eagle arrow) from the right keep flying at each other, taking a long time to make contact when one of them undergoes destruction.  Good to see a bunch of old CIA guys beat the bazookas out off of the current tough looking young CIA guys. Nice action movie with good amount of thrill and mild comedy. Acting by the veteran starcast is impressive. May-Louise Parker shines in her role as the romantic interest of Bruce Willis.

Here is a trailer of the movie.

Premakkoo Permitte? Valentine's Day program on 'Love and Romance in Kannada films'

In Kannada films, the time for romance was not limited to Valentine's day. In fact the proof lies in a song from the movie 'Bili Hendathi' by veteran director Puttanna Kanagal. In a typical romantic duet, with the traditional 'running around the trees' (more precicely, walking around the hanging roots in Bengaluru's Big Banyan Tree), the heroine Arathi declares that the first word that came out of God's mouth was 'Prema'.  In the movie 'Gejje Pooje' yet again by Puttana, the hero submits that love is actually the Fifth Veda. So in Kannada films Prema predates everyone except god and is also a sacred text.  So, that was the background of the radio program on 2010 Feb 13th aka Premigala dina .

You may please listen to the recording of this program by clicking on the link below. When you click on the link please scroll down to the bottom and you can see the links to the archives.


http://www.ustream.tv/channel/gandada-gudi

James Bond in Shankar Nag Chitramandira and John Barry (1933 - 2011)

It is the day my 10th-Standard exam is over. Six of us friends have decided we will go to watch the rerun of the James Bond classic Dr. No. We have no phones but we all live within a few kilometers of each other. We all congregate in my house. Any way my house is near to Deviah Park bus stop. We catch the first bus that is on its way to Shivajinagar. 63 or 68 or 95 - one of those. The relief that came with having crossed a major milestone in adolescent life has made way for celebration and the excitement of watching an English Movie on the hip place called MG Road. We make our presence in the bus felt with our excited conversation about the exam paper and our chances of getting the tickets for the movie.

The bus reaches Shivajinagar and we hop off and now is the exciting walk to MG road. If anything cool is happening in the garden city of Bangalore, then it is happening  here on MG road.  What better place to celebrate than this spot. The show starts at 6.15 in the evening. Will there be a long line? Will we get tickets? Going by our record, we should, since it is still 4.30 PM.

After a 20 minute walk we are at Symphony theater. There are about one hundred people in the line to purchase tickets for the "Rear Class". How ever there are only 25 patrons in line for the expensive Balcony class. Daya says 'ivottu ondu dina balcony ge hogona'. (Just for today, lets go to the upper Balcony class). Harsha is all for it, TM, Jay and I are hesitant. Viji smiles and says "hengadru sari" (anything is fine). Kiran tilts the scale by speaking in English  "What ever it is, we need to decide fast". The balcony line now has 30 patrons including us. The ticket counter opens at 5.00 PM and we make sure our seats are at the back after we buy the tickets. We also ask when we can go inside the theater. We have another 45 minutes.

TM says lets go to India Coffee house. That is the first thing that comes to his mind since his father worked in Coffee Board. Idly-Vade, Cutlet, Rave Idli and Masal Dose are savoured and topped of with Coffee. We are back in Symphony theater (which is now-a-days called Shankar Nag Chitra Mandira) in time to see the first image projected on the screen which is Gandhiji on the India map. We then watch advertisements for Vicco Vajradanti where an old man crushes some nuts and sugar cane with his bare teeth. This is followed by Sangeeta Bijalani applying Vicco Turmeric Ayurvedic Cream to her ankles which in turn is followed by advertisements for Liril soap and Vimal fabrics. We then get warmed up to the movie with trailers of coming attractions.

"Now starts the movie" I say knowledgeably. But it turns out I am wrong since we need to watch one more trailer. After a couple of such wrong calls from my side, the screen is dark with some scratchy sounds which usually come when something blank is projected on the screen. I am hesitant to call the moment the start of the movie because I was wrong the previous 3 times. So we just watch and there is silence in the theater. Then without warning...

The three zeroes from 007 start moving in from the right of the screen with Sean Connery walking in step to the music. He reaches the middle of screen turns towards the audience and fires with his revolver and immediately....

The big brassy bombastic 'James Bond theme' erupts and we are all sitting on the edge of the seat soaking up this excitement. For me this was the best part of the movie experience.  This piece of music so effectively expresses the excitement in James Bond's adventures, the mysterious aura needed for a spy movie and more than anything else it gives such a boost to the listener's mood. And this piece of music with its mysterious aura keeps coming up at tense moments through out the movie to suggest something cool is going to happen to follow. The movie made such strong impression on us, that after watching the movie, we had adjusted our ambitions to be "I will be like James Bond when I grow up"

Even now this music gives me goose bumps. Now imagine my thrill this Friday morning as I sat in the car and turned on NPR's Fresh Air. Who should it be but the man who orchestrated that thrilling music Mr. John Barry himself!! It was a recorded interview and it was being rebroadcast to remember Mr. Barry who died a couple of days back on Jan 30. Even though it is sad that a man who gave such exciting music just passed , I certainly relived my college days listening to this great British Composer.

Here is Mr. John Barry conducting the theme for James Bond. Also at the bottom is Terry Gross's interview with him. May his soul live with us, through his music, for ages and ages.





Here is the link to NPR's Fresh Air program in which Terry Gross interviews John Barry.
http://www.npr.org/2011/02/04/133372739/remembering-james-bond-film-composer-john-barry

Gandada Gudi : My Kannada Radio/Internet based Program on Sunday 4 PM To 5 PM PST

Please listen to my program today on Mahima Creations' Gandhadagudi on
KEST 1450 AM (SFO Bay area).
Sunday  Feb 6th 4.00 PM PST to 5.00 PM PST.
I will present 'The Golden Era of Novel based Kannada movies - Part 2'.

We will talk about the time in Kannada films when they made movies based on Novels written by such literary figures as Triveni, Ta. Ra. Su, Vani to name a few. It is going to be a fun conversation with quizes about Kannada literature, cinema and trivia. There will be music for sure. These movies always came with hit songs. It will be nice if you can join the harate katte and talk about Kannada cinema and novels.

Call in and share your thoughts during the show 408 454 6004.
You can listen to the program from anywhere in the world. Click here to listen.
Listen from any where live on internet too http://www.ustream.tv/channel/gandada-gudi
(Please note the stream will become active when the show is on)

You can listen to last week's program by clicking here any time. The Kannada program will start after the advertisements. It is only audio and there is no video. 'The Golden Era of Novel based Kannada movies - Part 1"

PS: If the above links do not work please go to http://www.ustream.tv/
and search for mahimacreations. There you can choose gandadagudi.